


Faithful friends who are dear to us, they gather near to us once more

by A_Tomb_With_A_View



Series: SonsetCurve’s holiday event 2020 [4]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex has anxiety, Bad Parenting, Carrie and Bobby Are Siblings, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Hinted aromantic nick, M/M, Reggie has fibromyalgia, nativity films, the heaviest of found family vibes, their parents were neglectful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:40:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28120038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Tomb_With_A_View/pseuds/A_Tomb_With_A_View
Summary: “We’re not watching all three Nativity films,” Bobby insisted the second Julie suggested it.He should’ve known better, really. Even as the words left his mouth, he winced, feeling Reggie and Julie’s combined pleading eyes boring into the side of his head. It wasn’t the first time he’d put up a token protest at the commencement of their holiday tradition, and it wouldn’t be the last.
Relationships: Alex & Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Flynn & Julie Molina & Nick & Luke Patterson & Reggie & Willie & Carrie Wilson, Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Bobby | Trevor Wilson/Reggie, Flynn/Carrie Wilson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: SonsetCurve’s holiday event 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055348
Comments: 34
Kudos: 215





	Faithful friends who are dear to us, they gather near to us once more

**Author's Note:**

> Hi kids! Happy day 3, tomorrow is my last day of school, finally 😂😂  
> Anyways, enjoy the prompt for day 3: Christmas films

“We’re not watching all three Nativity films,” Bobby insisted the second Julie suggested it. 

He should’ve known better, really. Even as the words left his mouth, he winced, feeling Reggie and Julie’s combined pleading eyes boring into the side of his head. It wasn’t the first time he’d put up a token protest at the commencement of their holiday tradition, and it wouldn’t be the last. 

“Please?” Julie asked, eyes wide. “They’re my favourite Christmas movies. They’re so good. Please?” 

Reggie plastered himself against Bobby’s side. “C’mon, babe. They’re so funny, and they’re on Netflix, you can’t just  _ not  _ watch Nativity at Christmas.”

Bobby turned imploringly to Willie, but his friend just shrugged helplessly. 

“Reg has a point, man. You can’t  _ not  _ watch Nativity at Christmas. It’s like… sacrilege,” Willie said, pulled Alex against their chest. 

“But we’ve watched them every year since fourth grade when my mom and dad went away for Christmas and I had you fools come over,” Bobby complained, like he did every year, gesturing to Reggie, Luke and Alex. 

“Exactly,” Alex agreed, as he also did every year. “It’s a  _ tradition,  _ Bobbers.” He crawled over Willie to lean against Reggie, and Luke joined a second later. “We’re just three kids from broken homes. You can’t take  _ tradition  _ from us.” 

Luke sniffled. “Ever - ever since I ran away, I’ve just wanted a stable home, and I found that in you boys.” He dramatically wiped a tear away. Bobby had no idea when he’d learned to cry on command, but he’d not been nearly as convincing last year. “I love watching Nativity every year.” 

“Every  _ fucking  _ year,” he grumbled, but grabbed the remote and pulled it up obligingly anyway. 

Nick held his hand up. “Wait, wait, wait. We are  _ not  _ watching Christmas films without Christmas pyjamas, you actual heathen.”

“Or alcohol,” Flynn added.

“I’ve got mulled wine?” Carrie suggested. “And gingerbread.” 

Julie stood up. “Everybody back here in ten minutes, Christmas pyjamas, blankets, mulled wine and gingerbread. Are we in agreement?” 

——

There was, Bobby had to admit, something fun about how their little tradition grew every so often. In fifth grade it had just been the four of them, curled up together under Bobby’s duvet, with none of their parents any the wiser. Alex had brought popcorn, Reggie had pulled out a stash of fizzy rainbow belts, and Luke had stolen eight sachets of instant hot chocolate. Carrie had decided she was too cool to hang out with her brother and his friends, but she’d snuck in to trade a belt for chocolate every so often.

They’d ended up with intense sugar highs, and the most  _ awful  _ crashes the next day, and Alex hadn’t been allowed to see any of them for a week, and the next time Bobby had gone round Luke’s, Emily had glared at him the entire time. 

But, the next year, they’d all spent the holidays at Alex’s, Reggie’s folks all too happy to foist their son off on someone else, Luke’s only letting him stay Christmas Eve Ever, and Bobby’s taking the opportunity to book a cruise. Alex’s family didn’t celebrate Christmas as anything other than a religious event, but the boys had mastered the art of switching between the DVD player and the main tv screen pretty quickly, and so watching Nativity became their Thing.

Over the last ten years they’d switched it up a bit, adding things and people - Julie and Flynn, then provisions for Reggie’s flares, then Nick and Carrie, then Willie, then a growing assortment of fidget toys for Luke, then alcohol, - but the core event was the same. The four of them crammed themselves onto one sofa - they’d ended up investing in one of those huge U shaped ones once they’d gone in on a place together - in Christmas pyjamas and blankets, and watched the Nativity films.

And now Bobby was here: two months from his twentieth birthday, stood in the living room of an apartment he owned with his best friends, his brothers and his  _ boyfriend,  _ in stupid grinch pyjamas Flynn had bought him for secret Santa two years ago with a bottle of mulled wine in his hand, preparing to watch Nativity for the millionth time. 

He laid down half on top of Willie, because they were there first, pressing an over-the-top kiss to their cheek. “How many times have you been here for this, now?” 

Willie rolled their eyes fondly and rearranged him so he was more tucked into their side rather than just on top of them. “This is my fifth, I think.” 

“You sick of us yet?” He grinned, holding his arms out so Reggie could cuddle into him when he walked in. 

“Of course not,” he groaned as Alex simply flopped down on top of him, but obligingly hugged him tightly. “Okay, maybe a little bit.” 

“I definitely am,” Nick joked, stretching out on a whole side of the couch, as he always did. “I’m pretty sure I could recite these from memory, backwards, at this point.” 

“You’re welcome to leave,” Carrie retorted, laying down on top of him. “Like, not now, because you’re a good pillow. But in general.”

“No, I’m staying.” He started doing little plaits in her hair. “Where else would I find a friendship group consisting of my lesbian ex girlfriend, the first masc personI ever thought was hot, my first comp-het crush, and the guy who sent me fifteen aro-spec Instagram accounts before I finally got the hint?”

“Who was the first masc person you thought was hot?” Luke asked, laying with his head in Reggie’s lap and his feet in Julie’s. “Was It me? I’m hot.”

“It was obviously Willie,” Nick replied. “Duh.” 

Luke pouted for a moment, but gave up pretty quickly. “Yeah, that checks out.” 

Julie cleared her throat. “So… are we gonna start?” 

“Fuck yeah, we are.” Bobby pressed play, letting Mr Madden’s intro monologue wash over him, nestling closer to the others. 

——

Reggie lifted his head from where it had been resting on Bobby’s arm as Mr Maddens got wrapped up in putting on the Nativity and started encouraging the kids instead of putting them down. “We’re all thinking of Ray, right?” 

Bobby nodded immediately. “Remember that time Alex broke his arm and Ray told the doctor that he was his dad and Lexi started crying?” 

Alex looked up, barely, hair sticking in all directions from Willie playing with it. “Remember when Ray gave you the whole “you’re a good kid but you can’t keep getting in fights because you’ll get a bad rep” speech? Like Mr Maddens did to Oli like fifteen minutes ago? Remember how you sobbed in Luke’s arms for half an hour?”

“Remember when dad told Mr and Mr Dansforth-Evans that they were fine to look after Nick while they went on a cruise, he already has six children plus three extras, and you  _ all  _ lost it?” Julie reminded them, grinning smugly. “There were tears. Reggie called him dad. Alex, you asked him to adopt you. Bobby had a total Zuko angst-coma. Luke refused to leave our house for a week.” 

“Just shut up and watch the film,” the four of them muttered, cheeks burning. 

——

“ _ Sparkle and shiiiine~” _

——

“Bobby are you  _ crying?”  _

“No,” Bobby sniffled, wiping under his eye stubbornly. 

“Oh my god.” Alex laughed delightedly. “You are!” 

Willie wrapped his arm around Bobby, snorting fondly when Luke tangled their fingers together automatically. “It’s okay, man.”

Julie climbed across Luke to sit halfway across Reggie and Bobby. “You okay, Bobbers?” 

“Yeah, Jules.” He smiled up at her, resolutely ignoring the way his eyes stung. “You know me and sappy found family Christmas films.” 

Reggie laughed wetly, tears steaming down his face. “We’re all suckers for sappy found family Christmas films. I don’t know why Alex is pointing fingers like Willie’s shirt isn’t soaked with tears.” 

Flynn threw a pillow at them. “Shush, I want to listen to Oli’s rap!” 

——

“Anyone else love how David Tennant’s only moods are sad, slut, dad, and serial killer?” Carrie asked as soon as Mr Peterson came on screen at the start of Nativity 2. “And how in this film he’s simultaneously all of them and none of them?”

Julie looked up, eyebrows raised. “I’m sorry, where the fuck does he give slutty vibes in this?” 

“Roderick,” Bobby, Luke, Reggie and Alex all said as one. “Definitely Roderick.” 

Flynn laughed. “They’ve got you there, Julie-bean.” 

——

“Is no one else concerned about how much emotional manipulation these teachers do?” Willie asked as Mr Poppy started singing about not having a dad. “Like I know you idiots have no measure for healthy relationships with figures of authority, but Nick? Flynn? Julie? It’s concerning, right?”

Reggi clutched his chest dramatically. “I do too have a measure for healthy relationships with figures of authority! Ray’s teaching me to take cool photos, and he complimented me three times in an hour! Three times!”

“Aw, that’s awesome, baby.” Bobby grinned, kissing his temple. “But, we can tell that the teachers are manipulating the kids, Willie.” 

“Yeah,” Luke added. “Our parents sucked, but, like, we  _ knew  _ they sucked.” 

Alex nodded. “These guys all suck, a little bit. But like, also, they have their good moments. Well, actually it’s more like they’re good guys, but they have bad moments where they blatantly manipulate children, but honestly, who’s kindergarten and elementary teachers  _ didn’t  _ emotionally manipulate them?”

Bobby snorted. “Alex, what the fuck?” 

“Bobbers, we were in the same class. Mrs Leeds was probably responsible for ninety percent of my panic attacks in sixth grade,” Alex reminded him. “Don’t you remember that time I had my first anxiety attack in maths because she picked me out, and then she just kept telling me I needed to stop hyperventilating because everyone was looking at me and I almost passed out?” 

Julie sat up. “Alex, what the  _ fuck?”  _

“He’s got a point,” Luke conceded. “One time I was fidgeting too much and she threatened to duct tape my hands to the desk.” 

Flynn furrowed her brows. “Every time you guys talk about a single authority figure asides Ray that you’ve ever encountered, the longer my list of people to haunt when I die gets.” 

Nick hummed his agreement. “What type of ghost are we talking, though? Because honestly if we become friendly neighbourhood ghosts then I’m just gonna start tracking people down whilst they’re still alive.” 

Bobby blinked. “Nick, I- … are you offering to hunt down and kill all the adults who’ve been mean to us? For realsies?” 

“Sure, man.” Nick nodded, looking confused when Carrie silently switched onto Julie and Flynn’s side of the sofa and Reggie shuffled out of Bobby’s arms, until Bobby practically threw himself onto Nick. 

“Everyone go home, Nick’s the best Christmas present giver in the world, he’s carrying out serial murder on our behalf,” he announced just as a kid on screen - and Luke - started singing. 

Reggie half heartedly attempted to smother Luke with a pillow. “Shut up!”

Julie laughed nervously. “Um, Reg, what the fuck?” 

“He’ll start singing along to All I want is Christmas stuff, and then halfway through the chorus, he’s gonna switch to all I want is everything from Victorious, and then both of us are gonna have all I want is everything stuck in our heads for weeks; we’ll associate it with Nativity 2 and rewatch it to listen to said song and then we’ll get disappointed when we remember that it’s not from Nativity 2, it’s from Victorious!” Reggie explained, allowing Luke to wrestle him onto the floor. 

“Has this happened before?” Carrie asked. “How did we not notice?” 

Bobby shrugged, allowing Nick to reposition him so he wasn’t crushing his leg. “Only three or four or five times.” 

“Every single year since we binge watched all of Victorious,” Alex agreed. “We all do it. We even wrote a pretty awesome All I Want Is Christmas Stuff meets All I Want For Christmas Is You meets All I Want Is Everything mashup last Christmas when you did a girls trip to New York last New Years.” 

Luke finally managed to hold Reggie off him long enough to speak. “It was a fucking  _ hit  _ on YouTube, so…” 

——

“Danger, Danger in the Manger, don’t give baby to a stranger,” Nick sang under his breath as he grabbed everyone’s cups to top up their mulled wine once the second film was over, bobbing his head in time to the song. 

“Yesss,Nick-a-licious, sing it!” Flynn cheered, just as Julie joined in. “Duet! Duet!” 

Julie scrambled to her feet and grabbed a mug off Nick to use as a microphone, the pair of them standing back to back as they dramatically belted out the rest of the song, bowing obnoxiously when they finished, just as Reggie and Luke took over for the encore. 

Pretty quickly they’d dragged everyone to their feet, jumping around and singing their heads off, Carrie managing to catch Reggie leaping onto Alex’s back as he dragged Luke and Bobby close for the final “ _ don’t forget the baby who was born in the hay, he was born in the hay _ ~”

——

“We all agree that the third one is the worst, right?” Julie asked even as she queued the third one up to watch. 

“Yeah, obviously.” Carrie rolled her eyes, snuggling into Willie’s side. “Sequels are always worse, especially when there’s three.” 

“So true,” Reggie agreed. “But Mr Poppy’s hair is definitely at its peak in this one.” 

Bobby nodded. “That’s true. Plus the flashmobs are pretty funny.” 

“But the amnesia thing is played as a joke but it’s so sad for Lauren!” Julie protested. “Can you imagine if dad just forgot about all of us?” 

Luke made a wounded sound and tugged his blanket up to his eyes. “Ray wouldn’t forget about us.” 

“No, of course not, babe,” Julie assured him. “But it would be  _ awful  _ if he did, right? And the little girl is amazing at showing that, but for a lot of the film it’s just a joke with Mr Poppy trying to make it better with stupid remedies.” 

——

Bobby heard Luke and Alex sniffle when Lauren reminded Mr Shepherd that her mum was in heaven, and quickly found himself in the same position when the kids started singing about having a wish for Christmas. 

“I see what you mean, Jules,” he murmured thickly, reaching across Alex to take her hand. “I mean, I already knew, but like… it kinda sucks to be forgotten about, y’know?” 

Reggie threw his legs across Bobby’s lap. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too, Reg,” he said quietly, pulling him in for a kiss. 

——

“Lexi,” Willie started, “I’m not picking on you, but you’re definitely the one most likely to get kicked in the head by a donkey and lose your memory, so I’m telling you now, if you forget about me and the fam days before our wedding and end up touring the backstreets of LA with a bunch of elementary school kids whilst you try and regain your memory without contacting me, I  _ will  _ hire Nick to take a hit out on you.” 

“Woah!” Nick held his hands up. “I’m not an actual mercenary!” 

“Uhm… Lexi?” Luke interrupted. “Are you okay?” 

Alex kept staring at Willie, hearts practically visible in his eyes. “Did Willie just say “before  _ our wedding?”?”  _ He tilted his face to Luke, but kept his eyes on Willie. “Am I imagining that?” 

“No, man.” Luke grinned at him. “You’re not.”

“‘Lex, you know that wasn’t a proposal, right?” Carrie reminded him tentatively. “Right?” 

Alex nodded quickly. “Oh, yeah, of course.” He wrapped Willie’s arm around himself. “But he wants to marry me, someday, and that’s pretty fucking cool.”

Willie snorted and kissed Alex’s cheek. “‘Course I do, bro.” 

“Me too.” Alex beamed. “I think I’ll look damn amazing in a wedding dress. And you look…  _ wow  _ in a suit, so...”

Nick cleared his throat. “Uh, you don’t-”

Carrie glared at him until he cut himself off. “You’ll both look beautiful,” she promised .

——

Bobby pulled Carrie closer as Mr Shepherd started yelling about not wanting his memory back, both of them flinching when Lauren said “what about me?” And Mr Shepherd responded with “what about  _ you?”  _

“You okay, man?” Alex asked quietly. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay.” He nodded. “Just love you guys a whole lot, y’know?” 

“We love you too,” All three of his boys replied immediately, pressing in so close it felt a little like he was suffocating, but in the best way possible. 

——

“I’m not saying we could pull off a flashmob ticket theft heist…” Bobby and Luke said at the same time.

“Oh, we totally could,” Alex and Reggie agreed immediately.

Flynn snorted. “You three fuckchuckles? As if.”

“Okay, so we’d need a little instruction,” Bobby admitted. “But I’m pretty sure we could manage it.”

“A  _ lot  _ of instruction,” Carrie corrected. “But I’m pretty sure we could whip you into shape, between the four of us.” 

“Four?” Nick asked. “Which one of me and Willie isn’t worthy?” 

“You, duh,” Julie teased. “You’d be right in on the action.” 

“....true.” 

——

_ “It must be love that we are feeling~” _

——

“Ugh, it’s finally over,” Bobby joked as the credits for the third film rolled. 

“Robert Wilson you shut your fucking trap,” Reggie pointed a finger at him. “You have cried  _ five  _ times today watching these films, as you do every year, so no more complaining from you.” 

Bobby reeled Reggie in. “Babe, you know I was just teasing. I wouldn’t watch a weird trilogy about a weird classroom assistant in Coventry every single year if I didn’t love it, would I?” 

“I guess…”

Alex cleared his throat. “Bobby’s just winding you up, Reg. He thinks if he bitches about the films, we’ll pretend he didn’t cry when Jeremy told Sophie to marry Finch.” 

“Oh my god, Alexander, it was sad, okay?” 

“Hey, man, I cried too.” Alex held his arms up in surrender. “But I also admit freely to loving these films.”

“I just did!” Bobby protested, wrapping his free arm around Luke. “I love all of you, and these films, and all our other stupid Christmas traditions, to the moon and back.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are much appreciated if you enjoye jt


End file.
